Sovereignty
by broomclosetravenclaw
Summary: Cursebreaker Hermione finds that she needs help from someone who has considerable Dark Arts knowledge— will she ask Snape? Written for Timestep in the Summer 2007 SSHG Exchange.
1. Chapter 1: Cursebreaking

_Infractum Prosterno Ac Effligo_! The object glowed a bright crimson. The space around it seeming to expand— that was the first sign that something was going wrong. Hermione quickly released her spell on the item and concentrated on strengthening her protection charm. She was knocked backwards as the glow changed to yellow and an explosive energy burst forth, charring everything within its sphere.

Hermione held onto consciousness as she held onto life. She realized a split-second before the explosion that her amulet would not be enough, but if she passed out, that would be all she had. She watched as the object returned to a seemingly innocuous item. _It _ should have been charred and black—not the surrounding area. She felt lucky that she had been quick enough to protect herself, as one of her mentors had lost a hand to the same sort of curse, and he had been a much more powerful wizard. Yes, she felt lucky indeed. But that still didn't solve her problem—breaking the curse.

-o-o-o-

Hermione had always assumed that she would go to work for Gringotts after Hogwarts, putting her Arithmancy skills to good use. But after keeping Bill company from time to time during his long recovery from Greyback's attack on him, she discovered that she might be better suited to working for them as a curse-breaker instead of just crunching numbers. The stories Bill told were fascinating, and if his recovery continued to go as slowly as it had been, there would probably be an opening. She thought along this path as she had watched while Lupin and Moody, with the help of other Order members at times, assisted Harry in destroying Voldemort's Horcruxes.

After Voldemort's defeat, Hermione began her apprenticeship as a curse-breaker under a Goblin named Tubersnuf. The work was harder than she had thought it would be. Bill's descriptions had made it seem so quixotic, akin to how she had felt in the Muggle world about archeology, she realized. In reality, it was grueling, sweaty work—hours in the dank caves under Gringotts carrying tomes from the library to the reading room to study languages and Ancient Runes, not to mention the Defense Against the Dark Arts training with Tubersnuf that made the classes at Hogwarts seem extraneous. Even though they had studied the Unforgivable Curses and various jinxes, Hogwarts had just skimmed the surface. Hermione soon realized that when she had thought about curses and the Dark Arts, she had assumed she would be dealing with the Unforgivables. But Tubersnuf had enlightened her; those curses were only given so much attention because the Ministry of Magic had made them Unforgivable. There were many other curses used in the Dark Arts that could make the Unforgivables appear almost tame by comparison. But, like many other things, the Ministry seemed to operate under the theory that if it closed its eyes and couldn't see it, then it didn't exist.

One thing the Ministry could no longer disavow was the existence of Horcruxes. In fact, they had passed a new law declaring Horcruxes to be illegal and to be immediately confiscated and destroyed. More Horcruxes than Hermione had wanted to count had been found in the year after Voldemort's demise during raids on Death Eater homes. Of course, no one had been as obsessive as Voldemort himself, usually having just the one Horcrux. She noted that Bellatrix had two and wondered if it was after the first or second Horcrux that one started to go crazy. The Ministry had been in-charge of the raids, but they had left the destruction of the Horcruxes to the curse-breakers at Gringotts. Hermione knew that most of the Aurors could have handled the job, but thought that Scrimgeour would not even want one Horcrux in the Ministry building.

Hermione helped destroy several of them while under the watchful eye of Tubersnuf.

After a year of studying and training, Hermione's apprenticeship was over. She was kept on at the branch in Diagon Alley, which included having the opportunity for the occasional trip to Scotland or Wales when an object was deemed too dangerous, or at times too large, to be moved. When she was not curse-breaking, she was kept busy studying and practicing to keep her skills honed, or reading up on the assignments other curse-breakers had solved. Hermione found the latter the most enjoyable, reminding her of the times talking with Bill, thinking ahead on her career. She realized now how little knowledge she'd truly had before coming into this job.

Her weekends were spent in her flat, cuddling with Crookshanks and reading for pleasure, although she was not sure if _Modern Alchemy _ and _Runes Today _ would be considered pleasurable for anyone else. Copies of _Witch Weekly _ were kept around for when Ginny dropped by for tea and a bit of gossip, and she subscribed to the Muggle newspaper to keep abreast of the happenings in the Muggle world and to have a topic or two to discuss with her parents when she went over for dinner. Her job and its unpredictability was enough excitement, and she tried hard to keep the rest of her life ordinary.

-o-o-o-

Hermione was just heading out her door for work, when an owl scratching at her window brought her back in. Recognizing it as a Gringotts owl, she opened the window to retrieve the message; the owl did not wait for a reply. Hermione knew this could only mean one thing; she began mentally packing as she read the parchment.

_ Another Horcrux_

_Scotland_

_Open your Floo_

_Be ready in half an hour_

_Tubersnuf  
_

She admitted to finding the goblin personable as goblins went, and enjoyed working with him, but she wished he would not be so vague in his messages. With Tubersnuf's brief letters, she was still never sure what to pack, but at least this time it looked like they would be working together. She also wondered why they were traveling to a Horcrux, instead of just bringing the item into London.

Exactly half an hour later, Tubersnuf arrived by Floo, dusted himself off, and asked, "Are you ready?"

As Hermione was answering in the affirmative, Tubersnuf placed the other end of the Portkey in her hand. Then, before she could ask any questions, they were whisked off to Scotland.

Shortly after arriving, Hermione's questions were answered. The Horcrux was a Pensieve. Three Ministry employees were standing around it, staring. The grey mist was swirling inside of it at an alarming rate. No one would even dare to actually try to enter the memory as there was too great a risk that mist was not a real memory. The Ministry workers had tried a few harmless spells to stabilize the Pensieve for transfer to Gringotts, only to have their spells repelled and cast back at them. After that failed, they tried tossing a few inanimate objects into the stone bowl, only to have them ricochet off the surface of the mist, exploding into ash. The image of Dumbledore's hand flashed through Hermione's mind—she shuddered involuntarily. Tubersnuf noticed her reaction.

"Are you going to be able to work on this objectively?" he asked.

"I'm okay, just having a bit of a flashback. I just haven't seen one cursed like this since Voldemort's were destroyed."

"Did you help with those?"

"No, but I watched closely, and Harry and I talked afterwards. The curses were difficult to break, but not impossible."

"Then, let's get to it." A gleam appeared in the goblin's eyes, one that only appeared when he was working and feeling challenged.

-o-o-o-

Hermione gathered her bearings. Except for the charred wooden floor beneath the Pensieve, the small attic seemed otherwise unharmed. Tubersnuf was standing over her, looking, if not concerned, then perplexed. They had exhausted their knowledge and used their last hope of destroying the Horcrux. There was nothing more they could do without further research.

The Ministry employees reinforced the Anti-Muggle charm on the two-room dwelling and left to make their report. Hermione and Tubersnuf retired downstairs to think on the next course of action. After more than an hour of nothing more forthcoming than a lot of pacing, they returned to London to bury themselves under tomes from the Gringotts library and archives. Later, they returned to the small house, Hermione to gather information and Tubersnuf to test the usability of a few spells that some might categorize as Dark Arts; but being a goblin, he had no qualms with using.

The one thing that bothered Hermione was why this Horcrux was just sitting out in the middle of Scotland with no further protection than an Anti-Muggle charm on the house. Had other charms been disabled before the Ministry had found it? And if so, by whom? Or, was the originator of the Horcrux so sure that it couldn't be destroyed that he didn't take any further precautions? With the previous Horcruxes, Hermione thought, she at least had the advantage of knowing who the Horcrux had belonged to. Here, she had no clues.

She walked around the perimeter of the house searching for answers to her questions. She found a small path at the back and walked a few feet. When she turned back, the house wasn't there, neither was the path. She reactivated the Portkey and found herself in the attic again. Some of her questions had been answered, but now new questions were demanding an answer.


	2. Chapter 2: Horcruxes and the Ministry of

Hermione spent the next few days researching curses and consulting with Tubersnuf, but she found herself easily distracted. She found her mind drifting back to her walk around the house, not on the Horcrux—and she would not find her answer in Gringotts. Hermione left the white marble building early and Apparated to the Ministry of Magic.

The nagging thoughts in the back of her head had led her to question just how the Ministry employees had found the Horcrux. Hermione thought that working for Gringotts would give her some pull for information at the Ministry, but she was wrong. She questioned the three employees that were on the scene, but they were of no help. Determined not to be put off, she rode the lift while she thought.

Employees came and went, purple memos swirled around her. The list of Order members still at the Ministry was short, and even shorter still were ones that she thought might be in a position to help her. The lift doors opened again and she was aware of a tall presence entering the confined space; it was Kingsley Shacklebolt.

Hermione smiled.

-o-o-o-

The next afternoon, Hermione received an owl. She unrolled the parchment to find the Ministry's report on the Horcrux and another smaller roll of parchment. The Ministry had received an anonymous letter delivered by a plain, brown postal owl. The letter contained nothing more than an address. The three employees had Portkeyed to the given address, arrived in the attic, and had basically found what she and Tubersnuf had arrived to.

She took the report to Tubersnuf.

"Did you know where we were going?"

"I knew we were going to Scotland," he answered.

"But did you know exactly where? Did you have the address?" she asked, the urgency no longer tempered in her voice.

"No."

"How did we Portkey there then?"

"The Ministry supplied what information they thought we needed and the Portkey."

"Is that the standard procedure?"

"There is no standard procedure when it comes to the Ministry," he said with a slight half-wink of his eye, and if Hermione didn't know any better a grin on his face.

"We need to go back to there as soon as possible." Hermione gathered up the report.

"Why?"

"I need to sort out a theory. It won't take very long."

Ten minutes later they were again standing in the attic of the small house. Hermione left Tubersnuf studying the Horcrux and again descended the stairs and followed the path around the house. This time when she turned back, the house was still there. She walked a bit further, the house remained. She returned to the attic.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" the goblin asked.

"I'm not sure."

"What do you mean?"

"I think this house was protected by a Fidelius Charm."

"Not uncommon with the events of the past several years."

"No," Hermione paused to think, "but why would the Secret Keeper suddenly betray their secret? And for a Horcrux?"

"The more answers one finds, the more questions there are."

Hermione shot a glare at Tubersnuf. She hated when he got all philosophical sounding on her.

She continued on, thinking out loud, "Kingsley must have suspected as much, or he wouldn't have risked including the original letter in his report."

"And your thoughts or progress on the actual Horcrux?" Tubersnuf asked as he continued to study the stone basin.

Hermione crossed her arms, a posture she took in defense when she knew someone else was right, and Hermione knew Tubersnuf was right. Even though she had answered some of her questions, she still found herself unable to focus on the Horcrux.

-o-o-o-

The next week proved unproductive in penetrating the curses and destroying the Horcrux. Tubersnuf had been sent to Egypt to organize a shipment of artifacts back to Gringotts. Hermione was exhausted and her eyes glazed over from too many words on a page after about an hour of reading, adding to her frustration.

By Friday, Hermione decided to leave work on time, for a change, and Floo Ginny to see if she wanted to come by for a late tea. The plan was slightly disrupted when after inviting Ginny, Hermione realized that her larder was quite bare. Slightly embarrassed, but wanting the company, Hermione Flooed Ginny back to see if she might bring something for tea, and while she was at it, maybe some tea.

Ginny arrived five minutes later with some Earl Grey, chocolate biscuits, and roast beef sandwiches. Hermione relaxed for the first time in weeks, eating and talking with her friend. As the afternoon turned to evening, tea became wine and seconds on the roast beef were had.

Somehow the conversation ended up on work. Hermione couldn't give the details of what she was working on for Gringotts, but she would occasionally discuss different spells and charms with Ginny; it was sometimes good for her thought process to have an objective opinion.

"So, if someone has invented their own spell and you don't know what that spell is, how do you counteract it?" Hermione asked.

Ginny thought for a moment, chewing on her sandwich, "I think you might gain more insight if you studied the wizard first—gain insight into their personality and what kind of spell they would be most likely to create."

"The problem is, we have no clue who we are dealing with."

"Then instead of trying to come up with a counter spell, you should try to come up with the spell, see if you can curse something, inanimate of course, to have the same affect." Ginny finished off her sentence with a sip of wine.

"No, we have already tried that." Hermione sighed. _What I need, she thought, is someone who has a natural ability for inventing spells and counter spells._ She stared past Ginny.

Ginny stood to pace the path Hermione had already worn and think. The movement of red hair sparked a memory—Hermione pictured Ron, hanging by his ankle. A trick Harry had learned in their sixth year that he chose to spring on Ron when he was least suspecting and not in eyesight of any adults, prefects, or a certain cat. The spell, _Levicorpus_, and counter spell, _Liberacorpus_, both written by a sixth year in Harry's copy of _Advanced Potion Making_.

"Ginny, you're brilliant!"

"What?" Ginny looked perplexed.

"I have to go back to Gringotts." Hermione looked flustered. "I need to post a letter as soon as possible."

And with that Hermione disappeared in a flash of green flames, leaving her friend sitting in her flat, and staring after her in the fireplace.

-o-o-o-

Hermione spent an hour writing the letter, carefully wording her request for assistance. She had no idea how it would be received. She sealed the envelope, pausing as she turned it over, questioning as to how to address it. In the end, hoping that the owl would know where to find him, she wrote two words:

_Severus Snape_


	3. Chapter 3: Owls and Portkeys

Snape sat staring out the dusty window, engrossed in thought. The faint rustle of feathers caught his attention. He was slightly surprised to be receiving an owl; he wondered who knew where he was. He looked at the black loopy writing and saw only his name; it seemed an owl could find someone _almost_ anywhere. It had been years since he had received an owl at his residence. He laid it on the table, taking his time to make a cup of tea before he returned to the letter. He tapped it once with his wand.

_Reveal!_

He held the envelope up to the window, revealing no hints to its contents through the substantial paper. He studied the handwriting. Finally, he opened it to read Hermione's plea.

_Dear Mr. Snape,_

I am sure you find this letter surprising, as we have not seen each other for well over a year, but I am in need of assistance. I am now working for Gringotts as a curse-breaker. My current assignment is resistant to being solved. My partner and mentor has been sent out of town on another assignment. Therefore, I thought this the perfect opportunity for some outside help. The reason I am writing to you is for your spell work, particularly your ability to create your own spells and your knowledge of the Dark Arts. I can pay you a small amount for your help. Gringotts will not need to know of your involvement.

Please reply if you can be of service or not.

Regards,  
Hermione Granger

Noticing several places where the parchment had thinned due to corrections, he smirked when he realized the worst of it was on the first line, his title. Picturing his former student biting her lower lip as she pondered her dilemma, Severus wondered how many incarnations she went though before she settled on _Mister_. She could no longer call him 'Professor,' yet she surely felt uncomfortable calling him by his given name. And she had actually been one of the few Gryffindors who didn't call him just Snape.

Although the letter had piqued his interest, he found this bit and the lack of pleasantries—obviously the other thinned spots on the first few lines and her closing—the most intriguing. He quickly penned his response.

-o-o-o-

Hermione paced her office, waiting. She looked at the clock; it was past midnight. It struck her that the owl could find her at home just as well as the office and that Snape could be hours away from replying. Sleep eluded her as every small noise had her sitting up in bed, looking for an owl. It was still dark out when his response came. Hermione hurriedly tore open the envelope and read one word:

_Yes._

Responding quickly, she asked him if they could meet at her flat and gave him her address. Hermione was hesitant at first about meeting at her place, but saw no other way to keep his help a secret. She knew it was slightly risky to Portkey in, but the times she and Tubersnuf had been back there, no one had been there or seen them.

With only a few hours sleep, Hermione paced between the rooms of her flat, occasionally passing through the loo to check her reflection. A firm knock made her jump. She straightened her robes and opened the door to reveal a man who hadn't changed since her school days. His robes were showing signs of wear, and something was different about his eyes, a tiredness she hadn't seen before maybe, but it was definitely Severus Snape on her doorstep.

Snape was unsure of what the day held for him. Hermione had been more than vague in her correspondence, which he appreciated from his days as a spy, but found aggravating when he was on the other end.

"Well?" he said, raising an eyebrow.

Hermione realized that she had not spoken. "Oh, come in please."

He took two steps to clear the door, still looking at her with raised brows.

_What was I thinking when I decided to write him for help. I must have been… well, not drunk, but I had been drinking_. Hermione turned and led the way to the sitting room. She was slightly nervous, and she was not sure if was because she did not know what to expect, or if it was because she knew exactly what to expect. She reconciled herself to the fact that the man now sitting across from her would have some affect on her, took a deep breath, and began.

"As you know, I am a curse-breaker. I finished my apprenticeship and have had successes of my own." She felt the need to express her accomplishments. "But, this last case has left both me and Tubersnuf baffled."

"Tubersnuf?" he asked.

"My mentor and now partner," Hermione answered.

"A goblin, I take it, from the name?"

"Yes."

"You may very well know as much about the Dark Arts now as I do," Snape said, narrowing his eyes.

_Was that an off-handed compliment or a cutting comment directed at the goblins?_ Hermione wondered, but continued.

"Despite how knowledgeable goblins may be at the Dark Arts, we have exhausted our research and talents on this latest curse. I am not sure if I can explain the details of it properly, so I think it best if I take you to it for you to have a look first, and then we can either discuss it or you can read my notes." There she had given him options, she thought; he could decide how involved he wanted to be.

Snape had to admit to himself that it was pure curiosity that had compelled him to answer her owl, that and the boredom that had set in after the war. He had gone from being important and needed on both sides of the battle to being needed by no one. At first, he had dreaded his solitude, constantly on the lookout for old enemies, almost seeming paranoid at times. When most of the Death Eaters had either been arrested or accounted for, he found himself relishing the freedom to be himself, accountable to no one. But soon he realized that the life he led did not constitute freedom, but loneliness. Hermione's letter had enthralled him, had filled an empty place in his life, but he was not about to share that fact with her.

"Before we go, I believe your letter mentioned something about money," he said.

"Yes," Hermione said, "I can pay you a little out of pocket now, and if you require more, I can exaggerate my expenses at Gringotts a bit."

Snape inwardly cringed, but kept his face fixed. He did not want to accept money from her out of her own funds. He was set and did not need the money. He had two houses, if you included the dump at Spinner's End, and enough money to live on modestly. He did not mind, however, taking money from Gringotts. _In for a Knut, in for a Galleon_, he thought.

"Shall we get started then?" he asked.

Hermione reset the Portkey, and five seconds later they were standing in front of the Horcrux. 


	4. Chapter 4: More Owls and Runes

Snape stared at the Pensieve. Hermione noticed it took him a few minutes to get his bearings. Without speaking, he went downstairs. Hermione followed him after a minute to find him sitting in the kitchen.

"I'll take your notes and have a look at them," he said callously.

"Don't you need to look at the Horcrux more closely?" Hermione asked.

"I have seen all I need to see." He stood. "Do you have the Portkey?"

Hermione held it out to him.

-o-o-o-

Back at her flat, Hermione gathered up the copy of her notes for Snape. She was not sure what had happened back at that house, but she took as much time as she dared, watching him out of the corner of her eye.

Snape stood by the door, anxious to leave. The old Muggle saying about curiosity and a cat struck him as ironic. He would study her notes and see how far she had got on breaking the curse and then nudge her in the right direction, but after seeing it today, he knew that he would not be able to help her actually destroy it.

-o-o-o-

Back at Spinner's End, Snape poured himself a firewhisky, beat the dust out of a once cornflower blue, wing-back chair, and settled in for a long read. He found Hermione's research quite thorough and was impressed with the steps both she and the goblin had taken in their attempt to destroy the Horcrux. He double-checked the runes she had used and noted her placement using complex Arithmancy. Scrutinizing her notes, he found that she was still depending heavily on knowledge she had learned at Hogwarts; he thought she needed to read some different materials, branch out, and start using her instincts.

Methodically, Snape gathered some books from his own shelves and had them delivered to her flat. He had stayed up most of the night going over her findings. In his dank, dark surroundings, he lost all track of time. He poured himself another firewhisky, downed it, and tried to get a few hours of sleep.

-o-o-o-

Hermione was awakened at dawn to a persistent tapping—or as she became more awake—a banging on her window. A rather large owl was balancing on her ledge with a package dangling from one of its talons, pecking at her window. Hermione rubbed her eyes, trying to focus, as she made her way to the window. The owl hopped in as it surveyed its surroundings.

Hermione tried to get the elaborate knot untied, but after a few moments gave up and went into the kitchen to find a pair of scissors; the owl followed. There was no note, just a stack of books wrapped in plain brown paper, but she gathered they were from Snape. She began to absently thumb through the books until a hoot brought her attention back to the owl. _What?_ she thought. The owl was eyeing the toaster.

"OK, now that I'm up, I might as well make something to eat. Would you like some tea as well, I suppose?" Hermione knew she was not fully awake to be talking to an owl. She set the kettle on to boil and put some bread in the toaster and went back to the books.

Most of them seemed to be old Celtic writings. One book was very thin, with a worn crimson cover. She opened it; the strange symbols inside didn't make sense to her, an alphabet, but like no other she had ever seen. Another book was on Norse runes; those were slightly more familiar to her since they had briefly been covered at Hogwarts in her Ancient Runes class. She picked up the small, tattered book again, studying the symbols.

Just when she thought she recognized something, the toaster dinged, and the owl hooted. The water was not quite boiling, but she made the tea anyway. After she had fed the owl and set a plate out for herself, she went back to her reading, eventually setting the slender book aside to examine the books she could read.

Hermione spent the afternoon at Gringotts, combing through the library, looking for anything similar to the unusual writing system. After four hours, she finally found something, a tiny book crammed in a corner of the top shelf. Hermione almost fell from the ladder with the exertion of pulling it free of the other books. But retrieving it revealed to be worth the effort.

The book concerned Ogham, an ancient alphabetic system of the Celts. Slowly, she descended the ladder as she read; the feeling of something familiar struck her again. She needed to go back to the house and take a closer look at the Horcrux. She owled Snape, asking him to meet her at her flat again.

-o-o-o-

Snape had been hoping that he would only have to continue his assistance via owl post, that Hermione would figure out the solution, and then she and Tubersnuf could destroy the Horcrux when the goblin returned from Egypt. But, it seemed Hermione was ready to go ahead full-force with Snape's assistance. He was hesitant, but felt a niggling somewhere in the back of his head that told him it was his responsibility to travel with her to the Horcrux site while Tubersnuf was gone. It was unwise for her to venture there on her own.

-o-o-o-

When they arrived at the house, Snape excused himself to the kitchen. Hermione cautiously approached the Horcrux. She had noticed the inscriptions on the basin, but as most Pensieves had runes inscribed on them, she had not paid them much attention, as she was not planning on entering what it held. She stayed outside the charred circle, but got close enough to examine the writing.

Her suspicions were correct; the writing matched the Celtic Ogham symbols. She berated herself for not noticing the strange runes on her previous visits here while Snape had noticed them after only spending a minute or so in the room. Quickly, she copied the markings on a piece of parchment; she would try to make sense of them later.

Anxious to get back to her flat and work out this newest development, Hermione went downstairs to find Snape, practically sliding down the banister in her haste. She was surprised after they returned to her flat when he picked up one of the books he had sent over and began to read. They sat there in an amiable silence, Snape reading and Hermione writing. 

The next few weeks developed a pattern. Snape would read while pointing out pertinent information to Hermione and marking specific pages for her to read. Hermione spent the days reading and adding notations to her research, always aware of his silent presence.

Hermione let out a small squeal. She had finished translating the inscription on the Pensieve. Snape looked up.

"Oh, sorry," she said, "I just finished translating the Ogham."

Snape walked over to her, standing behind her chair to peer over her shoulder. He leaned over her to take a closer look, his chest slightly touching her back. Hermione didn't move, afraid to breathe, not wanting to bring attention to their bodies touching; she closed her eyes.

Snape straightened as he said, "Yes, you did."

"It seems it is just the regular Pensieve inscription, but in a different alphabet. I don't think it has anything to do with the curse on the Horcrux. There is also the symbol for serpent in Norse, but by the placement of it, I don't think it is part of the original inscription but maybe a mark by the owner, a Slytherin perhaps… Wait, how do you know if it is translated correctly?"

He turned and went back to where he had been sitting, the movement stirring the air around her, making her more aware of where their bodies had been touching. As he sat down, he picked up a small book with a crimson cover. Hermione felt foolish. Of course, he had originally sent her the book. She had been so busy trying to find out what those symbols meant, first looking through the library at Gringotts and then doing the translation herself when she could have just asked Snape.

Then the realization hit her; he had been sitting in her flat watching her struggle over learning this new alphabet and translating the inscription. Her faced flushed, half out of anger and half out of embarrassment. She lashed out at Snape.

"Why, you could have just told me what it said, instead of letting me waste my time. You knew what it said all along."

"But then you would not have learned anything."

"You are no longer my professor," Hermione said, then added in anger, "nor anyone else's for that matter."

"I've looked over your research and added a few notations," he said coldly. "You should be able to break the curse and destroy the Horcrux now without my help." Snape left.

Hermione locked the door behind him. She took out the rest of her anger on the books and her notes—stacking, organizing, laying them out, re-stacking them. She tried to go over her research, but she was painfully aware of the emptiness without Snape there.


End file.
